Queensland's LNP Government, latest Industrial Relations laws.

BACKGROUND:

The Industrial Relations (Fair Work Act Harmonisation No.2) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 was introduced by the Attorney-General on Thursday 17 October 2013.

The Bill was sent to the Legal Affairs Committee for consideration. Submissions closed Monday 28th October. A public hearing was held on Friday 1st November 2013.

The Bill is the next stage of the LNP industrial relations reform. It explicitly is aiming to introduce recommendations of the Costello Commission of Audit and the ‘Blueprint for Better Health Care’.

It certainly is not ‘harmonisation’ with the Fair Work Act. There are serious and numerous parts of this legislation directly inconsistent with the FWA. There are elements that go even further than WorkChoices.

ISSUES:

Redundancies:

The legislation drastically reduces the redundancy entitlements for public sector workers. The QCU says the Government is getting ready for next round of job cuts.

It could also be preparation for mass outsourcing of the health workforce, which would necessarily involve a large number of redundancies.

Stripping entitlements:

Under the language of “award simplification” the legislation strips a huge number of rights and entitlements from workplace agreements.

It will make it harder, or impossible, to bargain in good faith to maintain or expand many of the features of current enterprise bargaining agreements. Even if parties did come to an agreement, the QIRC would then be required to insist on productivity gains as a trade-off for any entitlements included in the agreement.

For many workers, especially casual and shift workers, the penalty rates and allowances that have been hard fought for over many years have become part of their normal, expected family income.

Drastic changes to those entitlements will have serious ramifications for those families and a flow-on effect for the economy.

It is important to note that the take-home pay of workers is likely to be reduced. Even under WorkChoices the award simplification process had provision to protect the basic issue of take-home pay. Evan that very limited protection does not appear in this bill.

Public Holidays:

As an example of the entitlements to be stripped, public holidays will lose penalty rates of two and a half times the normal pay. At the same time, managers will be given the power to order a wide range of employees to work on public holidays.

This will impact on public servants right across frontline services, including police, ambulance, firefighters, council and healthcare workers who – by the very nature of their work – need to maintain services on public holidays.

Director-General Powers:

The legislation also gives the Director-General of Health the power to issue Directives that unilaterally override any other industrial instrument. That is an outrageous over reach and is very dangerous for a harmonious department and fair outcomes for workers (especially under the current DG!).

End to Protected Industrial Action:

The legislation effectively strips workers of the right to strike. The time-frames imposed mean that workers cannot begin negotiating new agreements until the expiration of their current EBA and there are new strict impositions on how long negotiations can occur before the matter is forced to the Commission for Arbitration. Of course, when that does occur the Commission will be bound by the new rules around what must be excluded from any agreement.

There is simply no time for unions and their members to run industrial campaigns.

The legislation also prohibits agreement from the employer or the decision of the Commission to award an interim pay rise while negations are continuing, or retrospective pay rises when agreement is reached.

Impact on key service areas:

The exclusion of so many elements to enterprise agreements will have serious impacts on the services provided to the Queensland public.

In particular, the legislation will see senior doctors and nurses placed on individual contracts. Worryingly, their individual agreements will strip out fatigue provisions that currently exist to ensure doctors and nurses do not operate on patients when there are exhausted after long shifts. It will seriously impact on patient care to have hospital managers with the power to direct health practitioners to undertake work, rather than the fatigue and safety concerns of those health workers being paramount.

It also impacts on schools right across Queensland. One of the provisions that will be forced to be excluded from any agreement with teachers is the requirement to maintain teacher-student ratios. Increasing class sizes will impact on students in every community, especially the most vulnerable.

Future risks:

There is a serious risk that this legislation is not only about the immediate harm on employees, but also about setting up future Government policy outcomes.

1. Mass outsourcing.

The stripping of entitlements for health workers, making awards as simple as possible and reducing redundancy payments can be seen as preparation for the mass outsourcing of health employees. The plan for mass outsourcing is set out in both the Costello Audit and the health ‘Blueprint’.

2. Extending to private sector.

There is also the fear that the stripping of entitlements makes it more likely to transfer back non-incorporated private sector bodies into the State system. It was flagged by AG paper, after the Feds introduced the transitioning legislation.